


What Do You Gain?

by Squiddly_Diddily



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Victory
Genre: Alien/Human Relationships, Awkward Romance, Blood and Injury, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Denial of Feelings, Eventual Romance, Eye Trauma, Falling In Love, Fluff, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Interspecies Romance, Original Character(s), Other, Post-Canon, Robot blood, Robot/Human Relationships, Strangers to Lovers, Swearing, gender-neutral protagonist, post-victory, third person
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:56:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25559203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squiddly_Diddily/pseuds/Squiddly_Diddily
Summary: After ejecting himself into space, Deathsaurus unfortunately finds himself on Earth again, but this time he's damaged with no fortress, ship, or soldiers at his disposal, and to make matters worse he's been found by a human.
Relationships: Deathsaurus (Transformers)/Human Protagonist, Deathsaurus (Transformers)/Original Character(s)
Comments: 34
Kudos: 69





	1. Chapter 1

When Deathsaurus ejected himself into space he hadn't planned to land on Earth of all planets. He hadn't planned on being stranded in the middle of a forest propped against a large boulder with no way to patch himself up. And he certainly hadn't planned for this tiny creature to find him in such a pitiful state- he hadn't intended on anyone finding him like this- but here he was, clutching his wounded chassis with energon and oil pouring out as he stared back with only one useable optic at the human before him.

The human was just as dumbfounded as he was, they hadn't expected to find a Cybertronian just casually bleeding out near one of their favorite hang out spots in the forest, and to make matters worse this one has one of those Decepticon symbols.

"Uhhh, why are you here?" The human finally speaks up with more annoyance than fear in their voice.

"I can ask the same of you, human." Deathsaurus hisses.

"I always come here. It's quiet, it's a good place to be alone, or at least… it was."

He scowls down at the organic, his optic squinting. He lifts the servo covering the hole in his chest to push them away before doubling over and letting out a pained grunt, clutching at his chest.

"Oh! Are you gonna be okay?" They ask leaning downward where they can see his wound pouring a mixture of pink and brown liquids.

Emotions swirl within Deathsaurus, rage, annoyance, hatred, confusion. How dare this insignificant organic lay eyes upon the Great Emperor in such a state! And to just see him without so much as a scream or look of terror, who does this human think they are? And now they have the audacity to ask if he's going to be okay while he's clearly bleeding out and in pain before them? Once he can stand he'll-

He's snapped out of his thoughts when they lay their small warm hand on his shoulder.

How DARE this human touch him! Especially without his permission! Do they not know he is The Destron Emperor? Or do they not care? Perhaps this human just has a death wish? It doesn't matter, he's going to-

"Hold on, I'll see if I can get something to help, I'll be right back." And with that they run off, leaving Deathsaurus confused as to why this human has run off for help. 

He sits there alone, energon and oil staining the grass below him, he manages to sit himself upright again. Leaning against the boulder he looks up at the sky, the sun shining brightly against his squinting optic as birds sing in the distance. He uses a servo to shield his undamaged optic from the sun and a bird perches on one of his digits. It's so… small, like a speck of dirt against his black claw. Tiny, just like everything on this planet, compared to him anyway.

It looks at him and tilts its brown and white head, making a chirping sound as it ruffles it's body before flying off to a nearby tree. He watches the bird hop around on a branch before preening itself, then it flies off deeper into the woods.

He vents out heavily and closes his optic. He places his free servo against the boulder he's braced against and tries to pick himself off the ground. He manages to finally stand himself up, though with legs shaking, and he takes a step forward. He shuffles his other pede along with a limp. He doesn't get far, perhaps four steps, before his legs give out and he tumbles to the ground with a yell.

He lays face down on the ground and grimaces, Star Saber will pay dearly for leaving him in this pitiful of a state. He tries to stand once again but fails and lets out a pained cry as sparks come out of his knee joint. He manages to flip himself over though, so that he's looking up at the trees providing shade over him. He stares up, watching the birds fly overhead.

"Hey, I'm ba-" The human's voice is cut off, followed by the sound of them running closer to him, "What the hell man?! You've made yourself worse, you should've stayed where you were!" They say as they drop the toolbox from their vehicle on the ground and frantically dig through it.

He grunts at the statement, irritated that this organic is telling him what he should and shouldn't do, yet he can't find the strength to yell at them or shoo them away. Instead he just lays there, thinking of the pain he's in as the sounds around him fizzle in and out of his audials. He gathers what energy he can to move his helm to look towards the human pulling out different tools. His vision becomes blurry and unfocused and warnings keep popping up in his HUD that slightly block his view of the human. His optic begins to turn grey as he loses consciousness, everything falling silent to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been thinking about writing a Deathsaurus fic for while and after watching Victory I thought that version of him would work well for this idea! I'll be working on this and Far From Home when I can and I'll try to update both in rotations!


	2. Chapter 2

Deathsaurus slowly opens his optic to see the stars twinkling through the openings of the trees. A slight chill runs through his frame, causing him to shiver, as the night breeze caresses over him and rustles the leaves of the trees. He tries to open his damaged optic but when he does all he sees is darkness with it. He assumes it will be unusable until he can get a medic to fix him and replace the shattered glass of his optic. He raises slightly and lifts his servo to check his chest, noting that there seems to be some kind of sealant and cloth over his wound.

"You're awake!" A voice rings out and he turns his helm to see the little human from before sitting on a patch of grass beside him with a blanket wrapped around them.

'So it wasn't a dream…' he thinks to himself upon seeing the small creature, "Why are you here?" he asks them in a tone much calmer than before.

"I wanted to make sure you'd wake up." They answer, "I did my best to stop your… bleeding? I'm assuming that pink stuff and the oil is your blood anyway. It might not be professional, but it'll do until you can see a doctor- er… mechanic?" 

He frowns. This human not only touched him, but it had the audacity to refer to him like he is some common machinery when he's ten times more advanced than they will ever be! 

"Sorry… are those not the right terms?" They ask upon noting his sour demeanor.

"No. They are not." he responds, "I need to see a medic bot, or in your terms, a doctor." 

"Oh! Sorry about that," they say hugging their knees to their chest under the blanket, "There aren't a lot of Cybertronians in this area so I don't really know a lot about you guys. I mean other than your symbols."

"Then you know what the purple symbol on my chest means." He squints.

"Yeah…" they say quietly.

He turns his helm to look back at the stars, watching them twinkle as the moon rises higher in the sky, "Then why do you not run? Why did you bother to help me?" 

"I- I don't know. It just- I think I wouldn't feel right... leaving you here to die alone and all. It wouldn't feel right." 

He turns his helm back to look at them, "You humans are pathetic, soft creatures," he scowls, "It's your ultimate weakness."

"Big talk comin' from a bastard that's probably on his deathbed." They snark and his optic goes wide with shock.

Did this human just talk back to him?! The audacity! Once he recovers he'll-

"So do you have a place to go?" They ask snapping him away from those thoughts.

"Of cour-" he pauses, looking towards the sky again and remembering that he doomed his fortress to a collision course with Earth, and by the looks of it, that hadn't happened. Star Saber must have stopped it from crashing and exploding. The Thunder Arrow was aboard his fortress as well… along with everything he had from his conquests across the galaxy. Gone. Everything he's ever had and known is gone, "No..." he says with a melancholic tone, his optic squinting at the stars as one falls across the darkened sky with a shimmering trail of white behind it.

"Well, do you have any friends or family who you can contact?"

Images of Liokaiser's frame turning grey and drifting into the void of space flash through his mind, "...No." he finally responds, closing his optic.

"You're all alone then?" The human says as they stare up at him with a sorrowful look.

He can feel the human's eyes on him so he turns his helm once again to see them looking at him as if he's some lost little minibot whose squadron was wiped out, "Stop that!" he yells.

They jump a bit at the sudden outburst, "Stop what?"

"Pitying me! It's disgusting!" He says as his lips curl downward into an awful grimace.

Their expression softens towards the bot, they can't help but pity him, he's all alone and injured with nowhere to go. They look up at him with hooded eyes, lips slightly parted, and ask what they know in their heart is an extremely dangerous and stupid question, "Do you wanna come back with me?" 

"What?!" He gives the human a puzzled look.

"Do you want to come stay at my place? At least until we can find a way to get you fixed up." they offer.

He stares at them in bewilderment as many questions run through his processor. Is this human stupid? Are they trying to die? Why would they offer such a thing if they know what he and others who wear the Decepticon symbol do? Or do they really know what they do? Perhaps they aren't actually aware of the crimes and motives of the Decepticons. If they were then surely they wouldn't offer him such a foolish option? 

"You don't have to if you don't want to," they say, once again interrupting his thoughts, "I just thought I'd offer in case you didn't wanna be alone."

"Hmph, as if I would prefer a human's company to solitude." He says haughtily, "I'd rather rust in this forest than go home with you."

"I will take that as a no then." They say standing up and tossing the blanket they were wearing over their shoulder. They bend down to pick up their toolbox and turn on their heels.

"Wait? Where do you think you're going?!" Deathsaurus yells out without thinking.

"Home?" they reply looking back at him, "It's late, I need to get into bed. I can't stay here all night, I have things to do tomorrow, plus you just said you didn't really want human company."

He gets a look of utter offence as they turn away and start walking into the woods.

"You seem like you'll be alright for now," they call back to him, "There's probably some of those medic bots in a few cities over, you should be able make it to them and get a proper patching up!" they shout as they get farther away from him.

And just like that, the small human disappeared into the shadows, their echoing footsteps fading as he looked onward at where they left. After a few minutes he heard what sounded like a vehicle starting in the distance. He listened to the engine and the sound of tires on a dirt road as he tried to determine which way the vehicle was heading before it faded out. The chill of the night air still cut through his frame, leaving him cold as everything around him grew silent, leaving him utterly alone once more.


	3. Chapter 3

The sound of the alarm clock rings out, annoyingly, through the bedroom. The human groans from under their covers, a hand poking out to fumble around their nightstand until they find the clock and hit the snooze button. They turn and pull the cover over their head, not wanting to leave the warmth of the bed.

Five minutes later the alarm goes off again. This time they drag themself out of the bed and turn off the clock's alarm. They make their way to their bathroom and grab their toothbrush, brushing their teeth before swishing a little mouthwash around and spitting it into the sink. They wash their face before going back to their bedroom. 

They grab one of the long black curtains that drags the ground and they pull it back so they can check what the sky looks like, only to be met with some kind of bright ruby colored glass.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" they yell out, falling backwards onto their butt.

"Ah, so I have the right house after all." A somewhat familiar voice rings out. The glass gets farther away and they see the bot they helped last night sitting outside their home. 

They pick themself off the floor and rush over to the window and open it, "Dude what the hell?! You can't just… you can't fuckin go around peering into people's windows, that's creepy." They scold him, running their fingers over the top of their hair.

The bot pouts, "How else was I supposed to make sure it was your house? Would you prefer I ripped the roof off to check?" He growls, folding his arms over his chassis.

"No? Wh- hold on why do you- what are you even doing here?" The human manages to ask despite stumbling over words, "I thought you wanted to be alone in the woods?"

Deathsaurus turns his helm to the left, looking away from the human and towards the open field of grass and wildflowers that he had to tread through to follow the tire tracks of the human's truck, "I… changed my mind." he grumbles, still pouting.

The human doesn't say anything, they just stare out of the window at this big robotic being sitting in their backyard, they can almost feel the sadness in his uncovered optic as he turns back to them, they can tell he's at a complete loss. For what? They don't know, but they can tell he genuinely has nowhere to turn and doesn't know what to do.

"You're doing it again!" He shouts and they snap their full attention back to him, "You're pitying me! Stop it!"

They let out a small sigh and chuckle to themself, "Sorry about that, you just seemed sad."

He frowns. So what if he does? So what if he is? He still doesn't want the pity of some organic he barely knows.

"Oh my God, fuck, what do I do now?" They ask, rubbing their hands down their face. They look at the clock, 9:40am, they have plenty of time before work, they sigh and turn back to Deathsaurus, "Ok so… what exactly are you needing?"

"Pardon?"

"I mean… you specifically sought me out, in the middle of the night I'm assuming, and waited here for me to wake up so obviously you want something. Do you need directions to the nearest town or- fuck it I could just drive there and you can follow me if you want."

"I want to stay." He says in a firm and demanding tone.

"Wha-" 

"I want to stay here." He says, with arms folded and a look on his face that reminds them of a toddler about to throw a fit to get their way.

"Here?"

"Yes."

"Like… _here_ here?" They say pointing to their floor with both hands.

"That is what I said, is it not? How many times are you going to make me repeat myself?" He huffs, "Besides, you're the one who offered to begin with." He smirks.

They think back to last night and groan. Shit. They did offer to let him stay with them didn't they? "Alright," they say in an almost defeated tone, "I guess… since you don't have anyone and you have no place to go then you can stay here for a bit if you want."

A look of triumph crosses Deathsaurus' face.

"But uhhh," they stare out the window at the large… very large… so very, very large robot, "How the fuck are you gonna fit in here?" 

"I can shrink." 

"Oh ok. Does doing that hurt at all?" The human asks with some concern in their voice, which seems to confuse Deathsaurus.

"Not initially. If I stay mass-displaced for too many days it could cause a few problems, but I intend to come out here every so often to make sure that doesn't happen. Plus I'll need to transform every so often to make sure my t-cog is functional."

"Yeah, alright," the human nods despite not knowing what mass-displaced means or what a t-cog is, "Well then I'll go unlock the backdoor and you can come in." They say closing the window. They grab their small pocket knife from the nightstand on the way out of their bedroom. 'Just in case.' they think to themself as they flip it up.

They head down the stairs of their home and make their way through the hall to the backdoor. They put the knife behind their back and unlock the door's built in handle lock, then the chain lock that connects from the door to the wall, "Alrigh-" they start to say, opening the door to find the bot standing right at it, only now he's about 9 feet tall instead of about 50+ feet.

"FUCK!" They say stepping back, both arms swinging to the front of them "Jesus Christ you're fast how did-"

"One step for me would be a very long kilometers of walking for you," He says bluntly before noticing the knife and scoffs, "What do you expect to do with that pitiful weapon? Chip some of my paint off?" he snarks, bending down through the doorway to enter their home.

They quickly fold the knife and slip it into their pocket, "No I-" 

"If a sword through the chest won't finish me off then that sorry thing stands no chance." He says looming over them with his arms behind his back.

"Oh damn is that what happened to you?" They say looking directly at his shoddily bandaged chest.

"Yes," he squints his optic looking down his nose at them.

"Are… are you sure you don't wanna go to town then? I mean, if you got stabbed then I kinda doubt the stuff I sealed you up with is enough."

"Your mediocre medical job will suffice for now."

"Really? I mean, I know flex sea-"

"I assure you that unless I spring a fatal leak, I am one hundred percent sure I do not want to go into one of your pathetic little towns."

"Ooookay. Well uh, make yourself at home I guess?" They say shrugging, "And don't worry, I'm not gonna stab you, I just had it out in case you tried to do anything." 

"I still fail to see how that puny knife would protect you," he says, and looking at him up close and in the light, they agree... that knife probably wouldn't do shit to him, "You should get a real weapon instead," he says flatly, walking past them to look around.

They turn to watch him, hand ready to pull the knife back out just in case. They watch him turn right to look at the kitchen and dining room, then left to observe the living room, he makes his way over to the stairs, a metal finger sliding along the woodwork of the rails. He begins to venture upstairs and they follow behind him as he pokes his head into their bedroom at the top of the stairs, then to the room to the right, which has several boxes of stuff they never bothered to unpack and set up and a queen size mattress on the floor.

"It's small." He sneers.

"Sorry this isn't The Baltimore Estate your highness." they say sarcastically.

He turns to look at them, a mixture of annoyance and weariness plastered on his face, "I actually am royalty you know? I am an Emperor."

A look of shock briefly crosses the human's face, "Oh."

He smirks at their sudden change in tone, fully expecting them to give him the fear and respect he thinks he deserves, before walking over to them, "Now where exactly do you plan for me to recharge?"

"Like… at an outlet or?"

"Not that kind of recharging, I am not some dull machine that runs off of a battery!" he grits his dentae, "I mean where am I going to rest?" 

"Oooh. Well the empty roo-"

"You're not sticking me in an empty room of box-"

"Shush," they stand on the tip of their toes to raise their finger to him, trying to put it on his mouth but failing as he's too tall. His optic twitches as he scowls at their attempt to once again touch him without permission, "Now what I was going to say before you rudely interrupted," they say in a tone of authority, "The empty room has a bed in one of those big boxes, I just never really got around to putting it together because I never really have guests." they shrug.

"Can't imagine why." He rolls his optic.

"Hey man, I _can_ kick you out and make you go back to the forest you know?"

He clears his throat, "Er, right, proceed." 

The human then walks into their room to check the clock. 10am. Damn, work is in one hour and they haven't even had breakfast yet. Maybe they should take a sick day? That's probably for the best, that way they can keep an eye on their new guest to make sure he's not gonna steal or anything. They go pick up their phone from their nightstand and walk back to the hall to see Deathsaurus leaning against the wall.

"Alright so," they begin, "I'm gonna call my work to get someone to cover my shift. Then we can start putting that bed together I guess." They say dialing their work number

"We?" Deathsaurus raises a brow ridge.

"Yes, we," they say, putting their hand over the phone's speaker, "You're staying here so you help too." They remove their hand and walk back into their room, keeping the door ajar.

Deathsaurus leans closer to their door frame, he can hear them talking to their boss on the phone.

"Hey, uh, I can't make it to work today Asha. Yeah I'm not feeling well. I think it's probably just food poison but I don't wanna risk vomiting on the job. Yeah I threw up this morning a few minutes after I woke up. Yeah I think if I rest today I should be good tomorrow. Alright, yeah. Sure I'll switch with Mark and take Saturday. Yep. Alright, thanks."

They hang up their phone and set it back down on the nightstand then open their door, "Ok, I have the day off, I'll go get the toolbox from the kitchen and we can start putting things together." they say starting down the stairs. 

Deathsaurus huffs and crosses his arms. He can't believe this human is still going to make him do work after finding out he's an Emperor, the nerve of this puny organic!


	4. Chapter 4

The human runs down the stairs to their kitchen and grabs their little toolbox from a cabinet beside the fridge. The walk back towards the stairs, going up them to see Deathsaurus leaning in the hallway beside the guest room with a frown.

"Alright, this should have everything we'll need." They say giving the tool box a little shake so they can hear the jingling and clanking of tools crashing together before setting the toolbox on the floor.

"Hmph," Deathsaurus pouts, "I still don't see why you insist on saying "we" when you will be the one doing the task." He says crossing his arms.

"Because "we" are building you a bed. You're helping too. But if putting something together is a little too hard for your highness then you can hand me the tools I need when I need them."

He mumbles a bit before sitting next to the toolbox and flinging the lid up. He scans over tools in the box, he's seen a lot of similar tools like these used by Jaruga before, albeit much larger than the ones in the box beside him. Jaruga often used them to make repairs on the ship or to patch up his injured teammates. Odd… a strange feeling enters Deathsaurus' spark as he thinks of Jaruga and his service to him. He doesn't quite understand the feeling, as it's something he doesn't think he's ever felt before.

"Phillips head." The human says, having already unboxed the pieces and holding some parts of the metal bed frame together with one hand as they had their other out.

Deathsaurus snaps his attention back up to them, "What did you call me?" he asks, looking utterly offended.

"What? No! I need a Phillips head."

He looks at them confused.

"The screwdriver?"

"Ah," he says looking down at the box, he starts to grab the screwdriver before stopping and hovering his servo over the box as he notices a few different ones, "There's more than one..."

"Yeah but I need the big Phillips head one"

He stares down, a mixture of confusion and focus twist on his face as he tries to determine which is the right screwdriver.

The human looks back and notices he's looking a bit troubled, "Do you… not know which one that is?"

"Of course I know!" He snaps.

"Ok… hand it over then."

He looks at their hand then back at the tools, he shoves his servo into the toolbox and picks a screwdriver, and, confident in his choice, he places it into their hand with a look of triumph. The human looks down at the screwdriver and blinks before looking back at him. His cocky smirk fades as he notices the human staring at him, "What?! I gave you the screwdriver, do your part and put the bed together!"

"This is a Torx." They say flatly.

"So?" 

"It's the wrong one."

He frowns, "Well... they're called different things in my language so how was I supposed to tell the difference?" he complains. 

"Oh yeah, that makes sense I guess. Here," they flip the screwdriver around in their hand so the handle is facing him, "put this one back and hand me the one that's shaped like a cross on the end, or an X depending on how you're holding it I suppose."

"Why didn't you say that in the first place?" He takes the screwdriver from their hand and places it back into the box before grabbing the right screwdriver and handing it to them.

"Thanks. And sorry, I guess I just figured you'd know your screwdrivers, you know since you're a robot and all." They say as they place a screw in and begin turning it with the screwdriver.

"And what's that mean?"

"Oh," they stop for a moment and look over to him, "I um… I just assumed you knew since these are like… since you probably have to do repairs on yourself with stuff like this." They go back to setting up the bed by placing another screw in and tightening it into place.

"I'm not a medic."

"Soooo let me get this straight, you don't know how to patch even a simple wound on yourself because you aren't a trained medic?"

"What? Of course I can! Any moron worth his weight in oil could repair a simple wound. It's just the more… hazardous ones require tools usually." He says, thinking of Jaruga again.

"Oooh. That's kinda how it is for humans too." they say with a small smile, realizing that cybertronians and humans have a lot more in common than they thought, "If I got a scrape I could easily wash it, rub a bit of disinfectant on it, and put a bandaid over it, but if I had a gash, I'd need to go to the hospital so a doctor could stitch me up."

"Yes well, let's just focus on the task at hand shall we." He says rather bleakly, trying to push all thoughts of the Breastforce members to the back of his processor. 

The human notices his change in tone and wonders if they may have said something wrong, "Hey..." they say, getting his attention while they moved to the other side and hold the bed in place to put the screws in, "I uh, I'm sorry if I said anything that's offensive to you. I haven't really been around cybertronians that much even though some live on Earth, we just don't get many out here in the country side usually, I don't know which terms are offensive to cybertronians, but if I end up making a mistake you can let me know it, I'll apologize and avoid any further use of the terms no questions asked." they tell him as they tighten the last screw at the head of the bed.

His only response is a simple "Hrmph", but he takes note of the last part, hoping he can use that to his advantage and make them give him the respect he's owed, being the superior lifeform and all.

"Well the head part is put together," they say standing up and walking over to the foot of the bed, dragging it over and lining it up with the rest of the bed. They put the remaining screws in and turn them, making sure they're secure, "Now for the box spring and mattress. I think you'd be better suited for this part."

Deathsaurus scoffs, they're still going to try to make him do manual labor. How annoying.

"You look pretty strong, you can probably pick this stuff up with one hand." they chuckle, "I bet it's like holding a feather to you."

"You think flattery is going to make me do this?"

"No, I'm just saying you cybertronians are supposed to be super strong, this will be a lot quicker with your help."

He rolls his optic, "Fine." he huffs, picking himself off the floor and walking towards the bed set. He picks both up with ease and places them down on the bed frame.

"Alright sweet, we got a bed set up for you. I don't have another dresser but uh," they stop to look over at Deathsaurus, who is folding his arms together with a frown, "I don't think that'll be a problem right? I mean, you guys don't really wear clothes."

"Some storage would still be nice." He says.

"Well yeah, I guess. I can try to find a desk and nightstand for you while I'm out tomorrow. Maybe a chair too?"

"Yes that would be agreeable. Preferably some kind of throne, it doesn't really matter what color but a blue, purple, or black one would suit me." He says sitting down on the bed.

"Riiiiight," the human says with sarcasm dripping from their voice, "And while I'm at it, I'll get you a golden statute of yourself and a diamond encrusted chalice."

"Yes, those would be wonderful." He says with a cocky smile, "I used to have a few statue busts of myself actually, they weren't gold though, they were made of black marble."

'Wow this guy is full of himself.' They think, "Yeah… I'm not actually getting you a statue like that. Or a throne or a diamond chalice."

"Hmph, and why not?" He asks annoyed.

"I'm not made of money you know," they shrug, "You'll just have to deal with what I can afford."

"Ah, you're a peasant class citizen then." he crosses his arms, "Just my luck."

They blink at him, "This isn't the eighteen hundreds dude. And It's not like I'm gonna give you some rickety old chair made of sticks tied together with hay, you'll get something nice, but it'll just be normal people nice."

He pouts again, arms still crossed, "Fine. But I want to go with you so you don't stick me with something ugly." He says

"Yeah that'll be fine. Maybe? I mean… as long as you don't cause any trouble in town you should be fine right," they point to his half covered decepticon symbol, " I mean… that isn't gonna get us jumped or anything right?" 

He looks down at the symbol and frowns. The human, unfortunately, has a good point. He can't go walking around with a decepticon symbol displayed on his chest, that's just an invitation for every autobot on Earth to come find him, and while that normally wouldn't be a problem, he's far too injured to take on an autobot army at the moment. No… he needs to lay low for a while, give himself some time to recover before he reveals himself.

"We could cover it up with some bandages?" The human pipes back in, "Or some stickers?"

"You are not covering me in stickers…" he frowns further.

"Yeah I didn't think you'd like that one. We could make you a vest out of a blanket or something?" They say just trying to throw more ideas out.

"No." He shoots the idea down.

"Alright..." they quickly try to brainstorm another idea. "Oh! I know!" They say slamming their fist in their open palm, "You guys normally turn into cars right? You can sit in car mode outside the shop and I'll bring stuff to the window for you to see! We can use code with your headlights, one blink for yes two for no!"

"That won't work, I don't turn into a car."

"Truck?"

"No."

"... Motorcycle?" they shrug, making another guess.

"No."

"Plane?"

"No, I'm not a vehicle."

"Wait really?" a look of utter confusion crosses their face, "I thought that's what all you guys turned into?" they scratch the top of their head, "Then… what _do_ you turn into?"

"A dragon kaiju." He answers plainly.

"Wow, ok yeah that would raise some suspicion I guess." They say raising their hand to their chin, "Well… do you have a phone? I could just text you some pictures of stuff and you could tell me if you like it or not?"

"No, not anymore." 

They walk over and sit down on the bed beside Deathsaurus with a look of defeat, though his weight makes the bed sink so they slide downward, body touching close to his, which makes him scowl. Again they touch him without asking to, when laying a hand on the Emperor of Destruction should be a privilege only he grants.

"Sorry," they say trying to scoot away, to no avail "Didn't realise the bed dipped so low with you on it," they smile, "I guess I should've figured it would, since you're made of metal and all. You're probably pretty heavy huh?"

The nerve! Yes he's obviously a few tons but to call him that so heedlessly! "You li-" 

"Oh hey I have an idea!" they say interrupting him as they turn to face him, which only causes further annoyance in the Destron, "You can use my laptop! I'll send you some pictures of some things with my phone and you can tell me which ones you prefer!" The excitement dripping from their voice makes Deathsaurus close his working optic as he pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Fine," he sighs, "I'll stay here and you can send pictures, just make sure you pick out something good." he huffs, "Now will you please get off of me and my bed!?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that." They say hopping up, not noticing Deathsaurus brushing the side of his leg off as if it's dirty, "Just don't break anything while I'm gone tomorrow. Or tonight. Or anytime really." 

He scoffs and rolls his optic. As if he's going to purposely break anything in the place he's going to be staying in. He may be the Emperor of Destruction but he's not an idiot, he won't do anything to get himself kicked out or ruin his chance of shelter. 

"Anyway," the human interrupts his thoughts, "I'm gonna make something to eat since I skipped out on breakfast for this. You want anything?"

"No, I think I just want to be alone for the moment." He responds, "Besides, I don't really eat human food."

"Oh? What do you eat?" they ask, tilting their head.

"Energon. And oil, though it isn't as energizing, but it'll do, as long as it's premium."

They chuckle, "Alright your highness," they say in a somewhat teasing tone, "I'll make sure to get you some good oil while I'm out tomorrow too. I have some for my truck in the garage, hopefully that'll do for today. I'll be downstairs in case you need anything or need to know how to work anything." They say before leaving the room.

Deathsaurus watches the door as they close it behind them. He's not entirely sure why this human has offered him a place to stay, and then proved their word on the offer, but he is rather thankful to be out of that dirty forest, even if he won't admit that to them. He just hopes he can make a quick enough recovery to be out of this place soon and try to get in contact with other Decepticons.


	5. Chapter 5

Deathsaurus makes his way down the stairs and into the kitchen to see the human making themself a sandwich and pouring a glass of juice. He stops in the doorway and the human looks up at him after they pour the juice.

"You sure you don't want anything?" They ask, screwing the cap back on the bottle and taking it to the fridge.

"Yes I'm sure." He huffs.

"Alright then." They say sitting down at their small kitchen island to eat, "Oh uh, by the way… I don't think I actually got your name?" 

"It's Deathsaurus, Destron Emperor of Destruction." He responds, running his clawed index digit along the wall then rubbing his thumb against it while making a slight disgusted look.

"Wow, that's a mouthful," they say with a chuckle, "I'm AJ."

"Just two letters?" He raises a brow ridge.

They laugh, "Yeah. Sometimes we humans have just two letters in our names." They say before taking a bite of their sandwich.

Deathsaurus walks over to the island and sits on the stool opposite of them. He looks down at their food and juice, 'This is what humans refuel with?' he thinks to himself, 'It doesn't look like much… although the juice looks kind of good." he gulps.

AJ notices him staring at their food and looks over to him with an inquisitive look, "Are you sure you're alright? I can go grab some oil from the garage if you need it."

He looks up at them with a pout, "I'm fine." He lies, trying to save his pride. He doesn't want the human to think he needs to depend on them after all.

They put their half eaten sandwich down and get up from their seat. Deathsaurus cocks his helm as he watches them leave the room and head towards a door in the hallway near the front door. He turns his attention back to their food.

'One taste wouldn't hurt…' He thinks, reaching for the glass.

It's an orange color, very different from the pinks and blues of energon and browns and blacks of oils. He grips the glass in his clawed servo and brings it to his lips, taking a small sip before slamming the glass down on so hard that it shatters as he makes a disgusted face, "Ugh, how can they stand this stuff?!" he yells out before feeling the orange juice drip down on his lap, "Uh oh…" he says looking down at the glass and juice all over the island's countertop. He stands up, looking around for something to clean up with as the juice in his lap drips down to the floor to join the small orange juice pool dripping from the countertop. He spots some paper towels on the sink counter, next to your dish drying rack, and grabs them, tearing off a few and placing them over the juice and broken glass so they'll soak up the liquid.

AJ comes back in with a bottle of oil in their hand to immediately see juice dropping from the kitchen island and Deathsaurus scooping some orange stained paper towels and glass into his other servo.

He looks up to the doorway, "It… knocked over on it's own. I tried to stop it-"

"Are you sure I can leave you on your own tomorrow?" They ask, forcing back a smile.

"Yes!" He yells out, walking over to the trash can and dumping the wet paper towels and glass inside.

"You uh… you're making juice tracks."

"What?"

AJ points to his pedes and he looks down to see he's tracked juice over the floor after stepping in the puddle trying to clean up.

"Ah."

"Here," They hand Deathsaurus the oil, "The bathroom is the last door on the left, you can clean yourself up in there, I'll get the rest of this juice up." They say with a smile.

Deathsaurus takes the oil and pouts. He's not some child that needs babysitting, "Thanks," he says through gritted teeth. They get the feeling he's actually not very thankful at all, but shrug it off as they go to grab their mop.

He leaves the kitchen and heads down the hallway towards the bathroom. He enters if and closes the door behind him. It's not an impressive cleaning area… it's a lot smaller than what he's used to. There's a walk in shower and a claw foot bathtub beside each other. There's a sink and cabinet close to the door. And some kind of little white chair? He has no idea what that is for.

Above the chair thing is a rack with some towels and washcloths. He grabs one of each and places them in a rack beside the shower. He places the oil on the sink's counter and steps into the shower. He searches for a button or dial before leaning down to the knobs. Is this how you turn a human shower on? Why are there two? He turns one at random all the way.

The human can hear him yell from the kitchen and drops their mop, letting the handle hit the floor. They run down the hall and stop outside the door, knocking on it, "Are you ok?!" They ask concerned. They can hear the water running in the shower but get no answer from Deathsaurus. "I'm coming in!" They say, opening the door and stepping inside. They spot Deathsaurus standing outside the shower shivering.

"What the hell is wrong with this thing?" He asks, dentae almost chattering.

AJ stifles back a laugh and walks over to the shower, turning the hot water knob on and turning the cold one down, "You just had the cold water on." They tell him, sticking their hand in to check if the water has warmed up any.

"What? Why are the cold and hot switches separate?! On Cybertron we have one dial to control the temperature and one to control the flow!" He looks at them with bewilderment.

"Oh that sounds like a pretty cool idea actually," they say stepping aside after the water warms up, "But here we usually have two knobs for the temperature, the left is for the hot water and the right is for the cold. Sometimes we have just one for the temperature but I've never seen a knob for water flow."

"Then how do you change the flow?" He asks with more confusion.

"There's a little switch on the showerhead you can turn for that," They say pointing to it, "This one has ten of them so you can try them out to see which one you like best," they turn to the door and step into the hallway, "Go ahead, try it. I made sure the water was warmer so it should be ok to step in now." They tell him before closing the door and heading back to the kitchen.

"Hmph!" he pouts and crosses his arms, "Humans make things too complicated." He mutters to himself before stepping into the shower again, this time the water feels better, but he turns the left knob just a notch to make the water warmer, "It has ten flows," he mocks their tone, "Back on Cybertron the standard is fifty!" He pouts again, "And my Fortress' personal shower had one hundred different flow speeds!"

He pushes his thumb against the switch, trying each flow until he stops on one that practically pelts him water droplets. That should do, it'll be enough to get him clean at least. He sticks his arm out of the shower and grabs the washcloth from the rack, using it to wipe off drying orange juice from his leg. He looks around the shower and notices a little shelf that has bottles and soaps on it. He reaches for one of the bottles and grabs something labeled "Ocean Breeze Body Wash".

"Ah, I guess this is like polish?" He tilts his helm. He opens the bottle and takes a sniff of it. It's definitely not polish, but it does smell kind of nice. Kind of like the human actually.

Not that he thinks _they_ smell nice or anything! Not bad but not nice either!

He forces the sudden thoughts to the back of his mind as he squeezes a little bit of this "body wash" onto the cloth. It has body wash in the name so why not try it on his own? It's what it's for obviously. It's blue and has an odd, jiggly texture but he still brings the cloth to his chassis and begins to rub it on himself. He's rather surprised at how many suds this stuff can make as he lathers it over torso, arms, and legs while the water rinses him off.

Back in the kitchen AJ finishes mopping up Deathsaurus mess and takes the mop outside to ring it out and let it dry. They wash their hands and grab another glass from the cabinet and pour themself some more orange juice before sitting back down to finish their sandwich. They wonder if it'll really be ok to leave this guy on his own. He's almost like a big dumb cat.

They push that thought out of their mind. That's not a nice thing to think about someone they just recently met after all, especially one that was almost dying when they met. He's probably just traumatized and scared, out here all on his own with no home, friends, or family. They know he said not to pity him, but they can't help it, he's alone and doesn't seem too familiar with how things work on Earth, pity is the reason they agreed to let him stay. He doesn't have to know that though. Not right now.


	6. Chapter 6

Deathsaurus turns the water off, plating glistening now that the grime of the forest has been washed off. He lets out a sigh. How could it have come to this? His plans were supposed to be foolproof, but here he is, in the home of a human, a hole in his chest, one functional optic, all his subordinates dead. This is truly the lowest he's been. 

He reaches a claw out and grabs the towel hanging off the rack beside the shower to dry himself off with. Water drips from his chassis as he pats himself dry. After he's done he tosses it to the shower floor and steps out. He takes the oil from the sink counter and twists the top off, chugging it in an almost desperate manner.

He downs the entire bottle before exventing and sticking his glossa out, "Ugh, it's not even premium." He remarks. Still, it's better than nothing, he can't remember the last time he had any kind of fuel. He twists the top back on and throws it itln a little trash can beside the sink. He looks at himself in the mirror, noticing a bit of oil dripping down from his lips and wipes it away. Gripping the side of the sink he examines himself, his one good optic looking dim and his lips curved downward. He brings one claw to his face and places it over the bandaged optic, letting out a sigh. He begins to unwrap the bandaged on his helm, tossing them to the floor. He tries to open his other optic, even forcing it open with his clawed digits, before a sharp sting makes him let out a yell and place his servo over it as he kneels over the sink. He then hears the sound of running followed by a knock at the door.

"Are you ok?" AJ's muffled voice asks through the door.

"I'm fine." He answers, annoyed.

"Look, if there's something you need help understanding I-"

"I'm _fine._ " His tone was much more sharp this time.

"Alright… if you're sure." They say.

He looks over at the door. Who does this human think they are anyway? Taking him in and treating him as if he knows nothing while not following his exact demands. He isn't some toddler that needs to be looked after. He knows he followed them here but he's starting to have second thoughts, especially since he knows everything comes at a price. Though he's not all too worried about what a human could want from him, they're simple, stupid little creatures after all. 

He turns the water to the sink on and washes the oil from his mouth and servo, wiping both off on the towel beside the sink. He opens the door to find the human leaning against the wall.

"What?" Deathsaurus asks, annoyance in his tone.

"Just making sure you're ok- Wait where's the bandage for your eye?" They ask with concern, which only annoys Deathsaurus further.

"I… it was wet so I took it off." He lies.

AJ looks into the bathroom, his bandage discarded to the floor. They notice the sheet on his body is still on and soaking wet, "Then you might wanna take that one off too. Here," they move past him and head over to the sink, opening the mirror, "I can get you some fresh bandages." They say, pulling out a first aid kit.

Deathsaurus undoes the knot keeping the sheet on him and let's it fall to the floor with a wet plop. AJ stares at him, "You know there's a hamper by the door in here for towels and sheets right?"

"Hmph," He crosses his arms, "So?"

They sigh, "Nevermind, I'll take care of it, now come here, I'll help you get your wounds wrapped up."

He begrudgingly walks over to them and allows them to help him wrap his chest.

"There's a medical eye patch in here too, hold on," They say digging around the first aid kit, "Ah, here it is!" They hand him the cloth eye patch and he places it over his optic, wrapping it's string around his helm. They close the first aid kit and put it away, closing the mirror back, "Hey uh," they turn back to Deathsaurus, "Look, I know you said you didn't want to go to see a doctor… but I really think you shou-"

"I'll be fine."

"Are you sure? Like _really_ sure? Because that stab wound is pretty big."

"My HUD isn't flashing any danger signs except for my optic damage, so whatever you did was sufficient enough for now." 

"Ooookay." They respond, not knowing exactly what he means by HUD, "Well, if you do start needing some actual medical attention just say so, there's a cybertronian doctor in town I can take you to."

"The offer is appreciated," he says, showing some actual gratitude towards them for the first time since he's stepped through the door, "I will keep that in mind."

They smile before picking up the old bandages from the floor and tossing them. They notice the oil can in the trash, "Oh, you drank that already?"

"Yes, it wasn't that great, but it will do for now, I needed something to refuel with."

"Can't say I'd know what a great oil is supposed to taste like," they chuckle, "But I'll grab a few different ones while I'm out and we can see what you like. C'mon," they walk past him and out of the bathroom, "I'll show you how to work the radio and tv, that way you won't be completely bored out of your mind while you're here."

He huffs before following them to the living room. Do they think he's stupid? He knows how to work this primitive technology. It's so simple. He walks into the living room with them and they stop at a stand with glass doors and a big radio on it.

"This little switch turns it on, it has a few different settings here. There's AM, FM, CD, Tape, and Rec, which stands for record. AM and FM are for the radio, I have a couple of CDs and records in the stand here," they say before pressing the glass lightly, it makes a click sound and they open the glass door to point at the CDs on the top shelf and then to the records on the bottom, "I don't have any cassette tapes so so you won't have to use that setting, but the records go in the top," they explain, lifting the lid on the top of the radio to show where the records go, "And the CDs go in here." They point to a slot in the radio, "And if you wanna take one out this is the eject button." They day pointing to a button beside the slot.

"Yes yes, I know how your Earth technology works." He says, crossing his arms.

"Oh, good, that makes this easier then." They say before pointing to a small plush duck sitting on the recliner's arm, "The remote for the tv is in that, it's in the little pocket on the side."

He cocks his helm, walking over to the chair and examines the duck,sure enough there's a cloth attached that dangles off the side of the arm with pockets in it, and the remote is in the biggest one, "What a tacky little thing." he remarks.

They let out a playful laugh, "Yeah it kinda is, but I liked it and it's useful, keeps me from losing the damn thing all the time."

He pulls the remote out and examines it. It's different from a Cybertronian one, but a quick scan of the numbers and abbreviations tell him what he needs to know so he can use it. He points it towards the tv and presses the red button that has "power" written underneath. The tv comes on, a logo in the corner of the tv reading "SYFY" is on screen along with what appears to be a badly animated crocodile chasing a woman.

"You can put it on whatever you want," They say before grabbing a set of keys off of a small hook on the wall, "I'm gonna head out to the nearby gas station real quick to get another can of oil for you."

"You're leaving?"

"Well yeah, you probably need to eat multiple times a day like I do right? It'd be kind of a dick move to have dinner in front of you later when you don't have anything." 

He looks at them confused, almost like he can't grasp the concept of their consideration.

"I'll be back soon though, don't worry."

"I'm _not_ worried." He huffs.

They chuckle, walking out of the living room, "Alright, well I'll be back in a few minutes." They say before he hears the front door shut.

He stands there for a few minutes, looking at the doorway. He hears their truck start and pull out of the driveway. Are they really leaving him alone here so soon? How foolish. What if he had planned to rob them? They're lucky they didn't take in Blackshadow or Blue Bacchus. 

Wait, that's it! Those two are still alive! He could contact them and get them to pick him up from this miserable little rock.

But they'd want to be paid… and he no longer has his mountain of riches he kept in his fortress. Although he probably still has a few shanix to his name, as long as he has his card he can-

Wait he lost that too…

He sighs and takes a seat in the recliner. He leans back, causing the recliner to, well, recline, and he almost jumps up from the sudden sensation of falling before he realizes that the chair is apparently supposed to do that. He lays back, staring at the wall, trying to think of someone, _anyone_ , that might be left that he could contact. He's not sure if the Dinoforce are still alive, seeing as how he left them for dead on that island before everything went to slag. And he saw the life drain from Liokaiser with his own optics.

For some reason, that thought makes his spark hurt. He assumes it's from anger. Anger that he no longer has any minions left to do his bidding. He closes his optic, the low volume of the tv being the only sound in the room, trying to think of _anything_ he can do to get off Earth.


End file.
